Greendale's Parents
by wencho17
Summary: When Annie, Abed and Troy make it their mission to fix Jeff and Britta's worsening relationship, a chain of events is set into motion. How will the study group handle it when secrets are revealed, friendships are tested and lives hang in the balance? Various pairings, eventual J/B with strong Tranniebed friendship focus. Canon as of S3 with explained T/B and J/B S4 rewrites.
1. Intro to Parenting

**A/N: Hi! So recently I started watching and subsequently falling in love with Community. Seriously best show on television. But anyway, after catching up on all four seasons, I had this idea and decided to write it down. It's canon up to and including S4 with a couple rewrites that are addressed and explained as they come up. I hope you guys like it!  
**

Annie Edison was always so focused on what was in front of her, way in front of her, that she often missed the obvious. You know the stuff that if it were a snake would have come right out and bit her.**  
**

This time though, even Annie couldn't gloss over something like this. It did shock her though that all of the others seemed to. They didn't make mention of it or even react when each day the situation deteriorated further. She didn't get it because it was so clear to her that there was something going on.

But then again, she had to consider the other possibility that she was just imagining things. The situation was working out exactly how she had fantasized so it was only natural for her to see what she wanted to see and to perhaps create problems where they weren't any.

Even though this wasn't her style, Annie had done some crazy things in the past in the name of love or rather infatuation. It wasn't completely surprising to think that history might be repeating itself in that department.

There was part of her that hoped her little manifestations were only in her head and that she was the crazy one seeing things no one else did. Obviously that wasn't the most enviable situation for her but somehow the alternative seemed much worse.

Either way, she had to know and she had to know soon. So one quiet night after she had cleaned up the dishes from dinner, Annie summoned her own personal brain trust to talk about the elephant in the room.

"What are we going to do about Jeff and Britta?"

"What do you mean?" Troy asked a little confused as he settled into his chair in their living room. "You don't see it?" Annie asked incredulously as Troy shook his head.

She was bewildered that to this point she was the only one who noticed the renewed tension and behavioral changes between the former sex partners. It started to make her think she really was imagining things. But just as Annie was resigned to her crazy theories, the final member of the trio interjected with some thoughts of his own.

"She's talking about our Greendale mom and dad," Abed replied as he sipped from one of the three water bottles that had been set on the small table in between his and Troy's chairs. "Jeff and Britta's fighting has been at an all-time high. It's turning this whole thing into less of a comedy and more of a really typical drama. Personally, I'm not a fan."

Annie relaxed in her spot on the arm of Abed's chair, relieved that she wasn't the only one who both noticed and felt uncomfortable with the recent dynamic shift between Jeff and Britta. However that relief was short-lived.

"So what are we going to do to fix it?" she asked the boys.

Oddly, Annie felt this responsibility to fix Jeff and Britta's relationship. No one really knew what or when they started to fall apart but as soon as it happened, everything changed. Annie loved her friends but the past few weeks had brought out the worst in all of them as a result of the pair's constant fighting that she now knew was definitely not in her head.

For the sake of the group and Jeff and Britta's deteriorating relationship, something had to be done and fast.

Troy watched as Annie and Abed seemed to share corresponding looks. He was still confused though. Sure he had noticed Jeff and Britta's fighting. He noticed everything about her. She seemed sadder than usual and was always blowing up on Jeff over some stupid thing or another. No one in the group, least of all Troy, understood the constant bickering but then again, over the course of the last three years, they never had.

Everyone knew Jeff and Britta's relationship was unorthodox to say the least. They fought and disagreed more than anything else whether they were dating or not. There was a weird chemistry there that no one quite understood or really even wanted to for that matter. It was best to leave those devices to the pair themselves.

For that reason, Troy didn't make a big deal of the uptick in fights. He thought it was just Jeff and Britta being Jeff and Britta. But as he sat with his roommates, their admission of seeing and planning to do something about it forced him to acknowledge his own misgivings about the situation at hand.

"Maybe we should let them handle this on their own," Troy said rather academically.

Annie frowned. "The last time Britta and Jeff handled things on their own we were all subjected to a game of romantic chicken that didn't end well. I'm almost convinced that if the whole thing didn't blow up in their faces that they would have gotten married."

"And that would have been a bad thing why?" Troy had to ask. He loved Annie, he really did, but sometimes she had the tendency to meddle in the business of others. "Oh and while we're on the subject can we drop this talk of mom and dad?"

"Jeff and Britta dubbed themselves our Greendale Parents though," Abed picked right up. "When Jeff referenced us as a family he established that he and Britta were like the mom and dad. Occasionally, they used this status to justify self-righteous behavior like when they tried to set you up with Annie while breaking up her and Vaughn and when Pierce hung out with Leonard. Lately though, they've seemed to drop the whole parental roles."

"Yeah that's because otherwise that means Britta dated her son and Jeff's been flirting with and making sexual advances toward his daughter," Troy reminded both of them with a sour look on his face. He really did hate that analogy.

"Uh, right," Annie said softly. She had really been trying to avoid that specific reference.

"Yeah," Troy replied. "So you can see why I haven't really been willing to accept the whole 'Greendale Parents' thing since then."

"But back to the matter at hand," Annie said, quickly changing the subject. Anything was better than talking about her concerns regarding the trope that had her having feelings for her 'dad.' "You said we should let them handle it themselves. That indicates that there is in fact something to handle. So you've noticed it too?"

"It's kind of hard to miss," Troy shrugged as he took a sip from his water.

Originally, he had no plans to even really address this topic because like he said, it wasn't his business. But prompted by Annie and desperate to get away from any scenario whether fictional or not regarding the dating of his 'mom', Troy decided to share his opinions.

"They're fighting constantly and there's all this tension," he began to explain. "They always seem to be snarky with each other too and worse than usual. I don't know but it's like something big happened and they can't move forward. This might be crazy but it would explain it. You don't think they are sleeping together again do you?"

"No," Annie screamed a little too quick and a little too eagerly. She covered her mouth as to not alert the others and once again, proceeded to change the subject.

"Abed, you always seem to pick up on these things. What do you think?"

"They aren't sleeping together," Abed said much to Annie's muted delight. "But that's the problem."

"Wait, what?" Annie questioned with confusion and anxiety, any excitement she felt having quickly dissipated. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Doesn't it though?" Abed questioned rhetorically.

Confident and overzealous, Annie and Troy noticed Abed warping into a favorite persona of his, that of classic, old-school TV detective, Magnum P.I. In character, it was Abed's turn to solve the Jeff/Britta mystery.

"When Jeff was trying to first woo Britta it was one-sided for a while but not awkward," he began. "Then Britta had that drunk dial and the power was shifted. She was uncomfortable around Jeff after that even though he drunk dialed her too. Britta was jealous of Slater even before that. But during the year Jeff and Britta were friends with benefits and lots of BCI, it was like the sex covered up the tension which otherwise, is still there. It was just like when Monica and Chandler were sleeping together it wasn't awkward but then again it wasn't awkward when they weren't either. Jeff and Britta are more like Ted and Robin when they were living together. They would fight over stuff and then have sex afterwards and the tension was gone just like that."

"But doesn't Ted end up with someone else, someone younger so Robin can end up with Barney?" Annie questioned, once again unable to hide her slight joy at her own analogy.

"That's what happens," Abed nodded. "But before both characters get to that point they do the whole friends with benefits. Of course this leaves Ted pining for Robin in later seasons but we haven't reached that point yet with Jeff and Britta."

"So Jeff and Britta are living together but not having sex?" Troy asked, obviously confused.

"That's not it, it can't be," Annie explained, even though she really wasn't sure what was going on anymore.

It didn't seem likely. After all there was no indication that the pair was living together. However the more Annie thought about it, the more it made sense.

Annie remembered watching those How I Met Your Mother episodes with Troy and Abed and remembered the way things went when Ted and Robin had their roommates with sex thing. It was the same way that Jeff and Britta acted during their secret year of sex. She didn't notice it then but thinking back on it, Jeff and Britta hardly fought at all that year. Well, at least they didn't in front of the group.

"I think what Abed is trying to say is," Annie paused. Even after gathering her thoughts, she still wasn't sure exactly what Abed's point was and she certainly didn't know how to explain it to Troy. Best to let Abed handle this one she reasoned. "Actually, I don't know what Abed is trying to say."

Abed glanced blindly at Annie before realizing she was giving him the cue to continue.

"For the sake of the group," Abed announced as he looked strictly at Annie, "Jeff and Britta need to have sex again and somehow we have to get them there."

Annie looked thickly at Abed before sighing in reluctant agreement. "If that is what it takes to get both of them back to normal, then yeah, let's do it."

"Troy, you in?" Abed asked, knowing Troy's history with Britta could be an obstacle to his agreement. He didn't want to push his friend to get on board with something he wouldn't have been comfortable doing.

"I'm kind of against this," Troy said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean you guys do realize how crazy this sounds, right? Annie you're rational. Seriously consider this and how ridiculous it is."

"Troy, if you still have feelings for Britta, you don't have to do this," Annie replied softly. "Abed and I can handle it, right?"

"Yep, yep yep yep," Abed smiled at Troy.

Troy shook his head. "I appreciate you guys looking out for me but that's not why I don't want to do this. You guys keep talking about the Greendale Parents thing. You realize then that your plan is to have us get our parents to have sex. That's crazy. Can't we just be children of divorce? Think about it, all of us are already so why does it matter if our fake parents are divorced too?"

"No, that can't happen," Abed quickly chimed in, drawing the attention of the others.

"Jeff and Britta are our constants. They can't change. We have to make sure of that. We are their kids and kids keep marriages together. They won't divorce if we seem invested and we can't let them divorce. Annie might disagree, but this was telegraphed from day one. Jeff and Britta are what the TV business refers to as end game."

Annie frowned at that reference of end game but Troy just looked concerned. He had no idea Abed was so invested in that particular ship. It made Troy wonder if that was part of the reason Abed never really accepted his relationship with Britta.

Reserving that thought for another day, Troy decided to comfort Abed.

"Britta and Jeff aren't going to get divorced okay buddy," Troy said. "It's like Cougartown. They are going through a bumpy patch but they'll get picked up for another season, I'm sure of it."

"So you'll help us with our plan?" Abed asked again.

"I was actually hoping you guys would let me try a plan of my own first," Troy suggested.

"What did you have in mind big brother?" Annie teased playfully.

Troy rolled his eyes. "It's simple. Just let me talk to Britta and I guess we'll take it from there. Abed, maybe you and Annie can talk to Jeff together?"

"Together?" Annie furrowed her brow. "Why doesn't Abed go with you to talk to Britta? If I recall, since the breakup you two don't exactly spend one on one time together."

Troy sighed. He actually didn't have an answer for that one. Well, he didn't have one Annie would accept anyway. She did have a point though.

He and Britta didn't avoid each other but they weren't exactly jumping at the chance to hang out alone either. Since their breakup a lot had changed including Britta getting back with Jeff. In a way, that put a strain on Troy's relationship with both of them. It wasn't that it was awkward but that it was, well…awkward.

But Troy had long been thinking about this and decided that at the first opportunity he got, he was going to try to fix his friendship with Britta. As it turned out, his chance revolved around Jeff. It wasn't an enviable situation but it was the only one he got.

"Just trust me okay?" he appealed to both of them. "I think it's best if you two go to Jeff. He is probably going to be harder to crack. I can't talk to him because it's weird this whole Eskimo brother thing."

"I can understand that but maybe I should talk to Britta, you know girl to girl," Annie suggested.

"I can handle Britta," Troy quickly said, not wanting to pass up his opportunity. "Besides Annie, you talking to Britta about Jeff is sort of the same as me talking to Jeff about Britta. It's weird."

"Yeah I suppose," Annie sighed. It did bother her that the kiss with Jeff made a friendship with Britta nearly impossible but there was no way to go back. The kiss would have been one thing but the lingering feelings were kind of hard to get past.

Annie had let Jeff come in between them and it was no one's fault but her own. She felt bad but more than that, especially now, she felt sick. All this talk about Greendale parents meant that not only was Annie lusting after her father but that she was just like her real-life mother. Except instead of going after her daughter's boyfriends Annie was going after Britta's, her Greendale mom's. Nothing about that sat well with her.

Maybe Troy was right. Maybe it was best for her not to talk to Britta about sex with Jeff and maybe it was best for her not to go see Jeff alone either.

"Abed and I will talk to Jeff," Annie resigned as Abed smiled at her.

"Great," Troy returned the smile. "Today's Wednesday so, reconvene this weekend?"

"Sounds good," Annie said before turning to Abed. "We should discuss strategy of how to talk to Jeff."

"Cool, cool cool cool," Abed finally replied as the two ventured into the Dreamatorium to draw up an appropriate 'confronting Jeff' scenario.

Alone, Troy lounged back in his chair. He hadn't expected that in a group that included Annie that he would be the responsible one. But there it was. She and Abed had gotten so wrapped up in the fantasy for their own reasons that they couldn't see the reality.

Troy sighed. He had to talk to Britta about that and about some other things they never really resolved. He texted her to meet up tomorrow and she seemed enthusiastic in reply. Troy then settled into his seat, got comfortable and tried not to dream of his 'mother' as he drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: So, thoughts? I decided to see how far I could take the whole Greendale Parents thing. Here's hoping it turns out okay. **


	2. Topics in Interpersonal Relationships

**A/N: If you had a second chance to fix something you so royally messed up, would you do it? **

**Troy would and that's exactly what this chapter addresses. Troy and Britta's entire relationship was botched IMO and this is my small way of fixing one low moment from that time. **

**Hope you guys like it**

There was just a short list of things or occurrences that could make Troy Barnes nervous. Rats were at the top and second to only those four-legged demons was the fear that someone would ask him to explain Inception. Say what you will about that movie, he just didn't get it.

But when he spotted her sitting alone and swinging her legs methodically like a pendulum as she did when she was anxious, Troy wasn't worried about rats or Christopher Nolan's second best project because duh, the Dark Knight. He was only worried about the recently added third item to his list:

_Spend a day alone with Britta._

Troy didn't want this to be on his list but he couldn't help it. Ever since the breakup about half a year ago, his rapport with the stubborn and outspoken blonde had been shaky at best. Sure they got along within the context of their social circle but their individual friendship suffered.

He could count on one hand the amount of times he was alone with Britta since then and each time lasted no longer than five minutes. They were moments in passing such as when they got to the study table before anyone else or when they ran into each other in the quad.

This though, this was uncharted territory. It was the first time since their breakup that he and Britta would be alone for lunch. If that wasn't awkward enough, Troy mentally kicked himself as he realized he picked the one place that would only make this worse.

He chose Senor Kevin's, otherwise known as that place where he asked Abed to pretend to be him so that he didn't have to break up with Britta. Yeah, that was the place he chose to have their first solo lunch since it all went down.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Troy considered bailing. He considered turning the knob he had been gripping for dear life and just leaving. Once he got to a safe distance, he would text her. He could explain that something came up or he had a really bad headache or something. Anything had to be better than facing her in the place where he broke her heart.

But as he turned the door, Troy caught her in his line of vision once again.

She was tapping her fingers on the wooden table and her eyes kept darting around the room. She was looking for him and he knew he would have felt horrible if he bailed now. He got himself into this mess and he was just going to have to summon some courage and figure this out.

At the heart of it though, Troy just couldn't lie to her. He had never been able to lie to her.

Honesty was her number one rule and Troy didn't want to go against that. He cared enough about Britta to understand why truthfulness mattered and he respected it. He just didn't understand why the others, namely Jeff, didn't seem to get it.

Wisely, after Troy started dating Britta, the conversation topic of girls was effectively off the table for the Eskimo brothers. For Britta's sake and for the sake of the group, the two decided sharing stories and tips would only create unnecessary competition. Troy and Britta's relationship was theirs and Jeff and Britta's was a completely separate entity.

Still, Troy couldn't help but wonder why Britta kept going back to Jeff even though he lied to her and was caught lying to her on more than one occasion. They had a connection that he would never understand.

He sighed. He was stalling.

He was doing one of those inner-monologue things that Abed always talked about. It was a plot device to push the story along but right now it felt like it was grounding him in quicksand. Even if he wanted to move and join her at the table, something was keeping him trapped.

As he tried to find the courage to move, he was alerted to a conversation occurring at Britta's table. She had been joined by the manager, the one who could only be described as Troy's nemesis.

"_He said Die Hard was bad, he said Die Hard was bad."_

Abed's words had stuck with him since then and he was determined to make the manager pay. But before he had a chance, something unexpected happened.

"My friend is supposed to be coming here soon so can you please not mention the whole Die Hard thing?"

Troy recognized her voice. Then he heard the manager.

"Oh you mean the fact that it is a ridiculously bad movie with horrible plot holes and bad acting? Yeah I won't mention that."

Troy was seething. He wanted to explain how all of those things were wrong but again, the female voice surprised him as she came to the movie's defense without any prodding.

"I watched Die Hard with Troy and Abed and I'm inclined to believe that they are right. It's a great movie and Bruce Willis plays the role with excellent precision."

"Those were Abed's words not yours," Troy smiled as he continued to watch the exchange.

"Your friends are wrong. And don't even get me started on that catchphrase. Like really?"

"Okay even I know you couldn't be more wrong about that one," she continued to defend. "John McClane has the best action hero catchphrase ever and there is no arguing that. Maybe you just hate good movies."

"Lady, Die Hard is not a good movie."

"Well, we're just going to have to agree to disagree then," Britta finished as she stared down the manager until he walked away.

Feeling triumphant, she smiled for just a second before going back to her pattern of tapping her fingers and looking for her guest.

Troy smiled back. There were so many things he loved about her and he just saw one of them in action.

He knew she didn't care about Die Hard and he was even a little convinced she hadn't paid attention when they watched it. But she was defending the movie anyway because of him and because of Abed. She was being a friend which was more than he could say he had done for her.

That's when it hit him though and when the metaphorical quicksand seemed to disappear. It didn't matter how things were before because it was all about what would happen now and in the future. He was getting a do-over and he was going to get it right this time.

So with a smidgen of courage and confidence, Troy approached the table. It didn't take long for her to spot him and as soon as she did, she smiled and waved him over.

"Hi," she said softly as Troy took the seat across from her.

"Hey," he replied back, head buried in the menu to avoid making eye contact. It turns out he might not have been as confident as he previously thought.

Maybe that's why Abed always played characters, Troy considered before shaking off the idea that was forming in his head. It would have made this whole thing easier but not better. Characters were part of the reason he found himself in this situation in the first place.

He sighed a little too loudly that it caused Britta to look up from her own menu.

"I uh, I talked to the manager before you got here," she decided to start the conversation. "We exchanged some words but he shouldn't bother you."

"Thanks," Troy said as he held back a smile. He couldn't tell her he had eavesdropped but then again, that was kind of lying wasn't it? Damn her impact on his moral compass.

"I heard you actually," he corrected. "I was debating coming over here but my feet felt like I was stuck in quicksand. Then I heard you defend Die Hard and I remembered why I thought you were so cool. I felt a little less nervous about coming over after that."

Britta smiled weakly as she looked up at him. For the first time in their lunch, she met his gaze and he met hers. It was comforting in a way but as their eyes both dashed away shortly after, it was clear there were still some issues there.

Instead of confront them head-on, she changed the subject. "So how's AC Repair School going?"

"Oh, it's good I guess," Troy replied as he glanced back and forth between her and his menu. "They have me teaching this class now. It's just me explaining how to fix things but it's cool."

"That's nice," she smiled. "Do you think you might want to teach someday?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "I don't really know. I mean the AC repair stuff is fine as like a hobby but I don't think I want to do that full time you know?"

"I'm sure whatever you decide you'll be great."

"I miss this," Troy finally replied after a brief but tense silence. "I miss being able to talk to you about my life and you giving me advice and stuff. It doesn't work that way with Abed and Annie well, she's got her own life plan she is focused on. You were the only one I could really do this with and then we broke up and we stopped being friends and yeah. I didn't want that."

"I don't know what to say," Britta said softly as she turned to look at Troy. "I miss you too though, a lot. I didn't expect things to go back to normal but we used to hang out and now we don't."

"That's my fault," Troy blurted out, a response that received a confused look from Britta. "I've been avoiding you. No, I don't mean that. I just don't want to spend time just the two of us. Crap, that's not what I mean either. It's just hard and I feel guilty and it's awkward because we never really-"

Troy posed to compose himself. He was rambling and that wasn't getting him anywhere. He had to just let it out as concisely and honestly as possible no matter how stupid it sounded.

"I don't exactly know how to do this."

_Yeah, that pretty much summed it up._

Troy watched as Britta seemed to process his jumbled collection of thoughts. He waited for a reaction, any reaction. In doing so, he found himself studying her face and he didn't like what he saw.

The glimmer in her eyes was gone and it was replaced by dark, tired circles. It looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep. She wasn't wearing any makeup which was unusual and he could have sworn there was a mark or bruise or something on her left cheek.

"It's okay," Britta responded as she gently rested her hand on his. "I don't know how to do this either."

Troy smiled as he put his other hand on top of hers. "So what do we do now?"

Britta shrugged. "Maybe Abed would know."

"I don't get it."

"I was just trying to make a joke because you know, the last time we were here, we didn't exactly know what to do either."

"Right," Troy sighed.

Once again he was mad at himself for picking this restaurant and for putting her through that whole mess in the first place. If he had just been able to handle breaking up with her, none of this would have happened.

"Britta, about all that, I'm really sorry," he continued. "I shouldn't have used Abed to do that. It was childish and cowardly and really stupid. I was just nervous and scared. I didn't want to hurt your feelings or let you down and that's exactly what happened."

"Troy, that's not your fault," Britta replied. "Sometimes two people just don't work out in a relationship. It's okay. It's not anybody's fault. It's like what you said before."

"I said I knew I could be good at being your friend but I was wrong," he sighed. "Since we broke up, you and I haven't really been friends. We used to hang out and do stuff together but now it's weird. And then you and Jeff started dating again and I don't know, maybe I was jealous or something. I felt like I could do better. I mean, it is Jeff after all and the guy is not exactly boyfriend material. But I didn't want to pry or anything because I was your ex and Jeff and I agreed not to talk about you. I didn't want things between us to get worse so I left it alone. But then you started acting different and Annie she came up with this plan. Most of it still doesn't make sense to me but I care about you and if something is wrong I want to help. So I wanted to do this lunch thing and I know I picked the worst possible place but I wanted to do this so you would know you could tell me anything, even if it has to do with Jeff. I know that might be weird but I'm willing to go there if it means helping you. If you ever questioned it, that's how much I care about you."

Britta was taken aback. She didn't know what to say. There really was nothing to say.

Like always, Troy was completely honest with her. She appreciated that more than he would ever know. She just wished she was in a position to offer him the same courtesy.

Troy and Annie weren't seeing things or imagining things that weren't there. For the past two weeks she had been acting differently. She thought it was subtle but apparently not. If those two had noticed, she wondered if the others knew too.

The truth was her and Jeff's "relationship" had met its rather untimely end. It hit a wall, a pretty massive one too. There was no turning back and no going back. If she could keep her sanity she knew there would be no reconciling either.

But Troy couldn't know that, none of them could. If they did they would start answering questions that she wasn't ready and she knew Jeff wasn't ready to answer. It had all happened in such a blur that neither of them really registered it. All they knew though was that it was over.

Britta sighed. She felt horrible lying to Troy but she had no choice. If he knew, things would get bad and fast. No, for the sake of keeping the study group together, she had to keep her and Jeff's secret.

"It's an experiment Troy," she explained, "just a psych experiment."

"An experiment?" he responded in disbelief. "I don't, I don't get it."

"Right, okay, so for class we were supposed to conduct a social experiment," the lie continued. "They are typically unethical so we were supposed to do it, not tell anyone and then chart the results. I experimented with you guys. I changed my behavioral patterns to see if anyone noticed. I wasn't supposed to tell you but I guess I can end it now since I've got some results to analyze or something."

"So this was all just homework?" Troy questioned. "So you're not really depressed or anything?"

She bit her lip nervously, hoping her explanation would be enough. "You don't have to worry about me anymore."

"That's silly," Troy replied. "I'm always going to worry about you. But if you say everything's okay, I'm going to believe you. I'm just glad this whole thing is over so you can go back to being 'not scary depressed and always mad at Jeff' Britta."

"Yeah," she had no choice but to reply. She had backed herself into a corner on this one. She wasn't faking her behavior before but now she would be. Otherwise she'd risk then finding out and again, that just wasn't an option.

"That's a relief," Troy said as he took a bite of the bread from the basket in the middle of the table. "I'm so glad it was just an experiment too. I mean, Abed had this crazy idea that you and Jeff had sexual tension and that you needed to sleep together to resolve it and that we had to make sure that happened. Saying it out loud just makes it sound even more ridiculous. Can you imagine how awkward that would have been if I had asked my ex-girlfriend to sleep with someone else? That's crazy. I don't get how Annie and Abed don't see that. But then again, they have their own ideas on how to fix this but now there is nothing to fix. I for one am extremely grateful that we don't have to have that conversation now or ever."

It took everything she had not to spit out her entire glass of water at what Troy had mentioned because Abed and Annie had wanted him to do what? There was no way that would have been appropriate and not weird. It was awkward enough with the secrets Britta was hiding but this, this would have been so much worse.

She looked at him with wide eyes that were begging for an explanation but he seemed not to notice. Britta watched as Troy drifted back into a feeling of familiarity with her. His nerves were gone and he acted as if nothing had changed. He didn't know though that this plan he and Abed and Annie had concocted, well, it changed everything.

There was no going back from this either. How was she going to explain the ridiculous theory to Jeff? Did she even want to? The breakup hadn't exactly left them in a great place in their relationship and one-on-ones with him were the only thing she dreaded more than one-on-ones with Troy.

But she had to say something though. He was looking at her for some sort of response. The longer that question or thought hung in the air, the more awkward things were going to get. Troy could start asking questions and she wasn't ready for that, not even close.

"Yeah that would have been weird," she managed to say with a fake smile.

Troy smiled back before grabbing another piece of bread.

And that's how their lunch went. Troy argued with the manager about Die Hard, he told Britta about AC Repair and his latest escapades with Abed. She smiled and nodded at the right references and made sure to drive the conversation in any direction that wasn't her sex life.

For the most part, it was an enjoyable afternoon.

"I'm glad we're back to normal," Troy smiled innocently as he offered her a hug before leaving the restaurant.

"Me too," Britta responded in kind, even though she knew it wasn't true. In fact, if it were possible, after what had just happened they were further away from normal then when the day first began.

**A/N: What did you guys think? This took three rewrites and was harder than I thought it would be. I didn't want to make the breakup like it never happened so instead I gave Troy a rare do-over. **

**As for the whole story, I'm curious to hear thoughts on what's going on so far and what you want to see from the rest of it. There's ton of great stuff I've got in the works but I'm always open to any ideas from reviewers!**

_**Next chapter: Annie and Abed get answers from Jeff**_


End file.
